


No Time for Honor

by AuroraNova



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dark, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 00:03:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17652245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraNova/pseuds/AuroraNova
Summary: This isn't the Bashir Garak knows. He's somber, hardened, and there to make sure Garak successfully destroys the Founders' planet.





	No Time for Honor

“Worf is going to stop you.”

Garak is shocked to see Dr. Bashir standing not two meters away from him – only this is not the same Dr. Bashir who ought to be on the surface of the Founders’ planet. This man is a bit older, his hairline just a touch further back than it used to be, the first hints of gray in his beard. More strikingly, he’s a thousand times harder and more somber than the Bashir Garak knows.

That he isn’t attempting to interrupt Garak’s plan is also a radical departure.

“Keep working. You don’t have long.”

Garak decides this is good advice and returns to the phasers. He can reroute and talk at the same time. “You’re from the future.” It’s an educated guess, but the confirmation or denial should tell him much.

“I am.”

“A future where I have been proven right.” That is the only possible explanation for Bashir condoning his current actions.

“Oh, yes. A year from now, the Dominion War begins. You’re with us on the _Defiant_ , since Dukat negotiated Cardassia’s entrance into the Dominion. They have DS9 due to a nonaggression pact with Bajor.”

It’s a shame Garak won’t be able to kill Dukat, too. Well, at least he’s taking care of the Dominion.

Bashir switches to past tense as he relates his history. “We mined the entrance to the wormhole, but the field couldn’t hold forever. Three months later, the war wasn’t going well, and we risked everything to retake the station. We lost. Dominion reinforcements came through the wormhole and utterly destroyed the Federation-Klingon fleet. Except the _Defiant_ , because the wormhole aliens protected us. They couldn’t let their Emissary be killed,” he says bitterly. “Everyone else was fair game. Bajor is still more or less intact, but the Dominion has killed hundreds of billions of people. Entire planets destroyed to eliminate resistance. Including Cardassia, since I’m sure you’re wondering. Dukat got tired of answering to Weyoun, the Vorta, and tried to assert his authority. That was almost two years after Earth and Vulcan.”

A surge of rage pulses through Garak at the idea of Cardassia’s destruction, and he uses it to work faster, overriding safety measures to ensure the phaser output is at maximum.

Worf comes barging in, and Bashir calmly shoots him with a phaser. Set on stun, because this is still Julian Bashir, but it doesn’t matter. They’re all going to be dead in minutes. The Klingon drops to the ground with a resounding thud.

“I’m sorry, Worf, but this is no time for honor,” says Bashir.

Garak finds it unexpectedly saddening that the doctor has become jaded and pragmatic, rather like Garak himself. It seems as much a loss to the universe as killing the present-day Bashir, though compared to the destruction in store for the Alpha Quadrant if they fail, it’s an exceedingly minor detail.

“We will die,” says Garak.

“A small price to pay to save the quadrant.”

“I think so.”

“Can I help with anything?”

“No, thank you. I’m nearly done.”

And so, in a strange twist of fate, Garak finishes his preparations to commit preventative genocide while Bashir stands guard over him. No, this is clearly not the Bashir he knows. This man carries the weight of the quadrant, and while he bears it well, he is ready to embrace death at the completion of his mission.

“Firing all phasers and torpedoes,” says Garak. Bashir nods, and they’re soon thrown backwards, landing inelegantly on the floor.

“That was the shockwave from the planet’s destruction,” says Bashir when he gets back up to read sensor data.

Now it is only a matter of how quickly the Jem’Hadar destroy the _Defiant_. Very rapidly indeed, Garak suspects, which is fine. No point in prolonging the inevitable.

“It’s good to see you again, my friend,” says Bashir.

“It has been a pleasure knowing you, Doctor,” replies Garak with perfect honesty.

It’s the last thing he says. They wait quietly for a few more seconds, hearing and feeling the weapons fire, and Garak thinks, in the final analysis, he can ask for no more than to die saving not just Cardassia but the entire Alpha Quadrant.

Bashir tentatively puts his hand on top of Garak’s. No, this is not at all a bad way to die.  

And then there is nothing.

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you care to bring this into canon, it goes as follows: as far as the Prophets are concerned, this simply will not do. Sisko hasn't sealed the Pah-wraiths in the Fire Caves, so this timeline, as much as Sisko's plea, convinces them to destroy the Dominion ships in "Sacrifice of Angels." Timeline reset, Julian never goes back in time, Worf therefore stops Garak, and canon continues.


End file.
